Beam Reach

Lure of the sea

A full moon sets over Haro Strait.

As a co-founder of the Beam Reach program, I have a great drive to make the second season successful. So I have to admit I was nervous and had a lot of questions in mind as I drove up from Seattle for a first visit during the third week of the fall program. How were Jason and Donna faring during their initial weeks as instructors? Had our admissions process selected a group of students who could learn and live together? Would I still feel excited about my plan to go to sea for a week this fall with a new baby and her lovely family beckoning from Seattle?

I gathered data to answer these questions during the busy week. Lecturing on marine geology and physical oceanography of the Salish Sea gave me a sense of the students’ inquisitiveness and academic endurance. Participating in a peer-review of proposal drafts gave me insights into the students’ mutual respect and Jason’s and Donna’s talents as facilitators and collaborators. More insights into each student’s curiosities and demeanor came when we asked questions after great guest lectures from Dave Bain, Jeff Nystuen, Lynne Barre, and Peter Westley, and short talks by Brad Hanson and Robin Baird. I think I may have increased anxiety unnecessarily when I reviewed what methods of provisioning, living, and researching worked (and didn’t) last year during the sea component, but the group persevered, tackled all the logistical tasks with amazing teamwork and efficiency. I was astonished that shopping for $800 worth of provisions took us only two hours!

By the end of the week, all of my concerns had dissolved. Jason and Donna have formed a resilient teaching partnership and they are well on their way to pioneering a team-teaching culture at Beam Reach. They have already derived ways to coordinate their efforts and be more efficient than Val and I were during the pilot program. Their best innovations, I think, are lunchtime meetings for lesson planning and mentoring 3 students each, rather than all students together. As a teaching team, we still have ideas to try (Skype conferencing may help coordinate between on-campus instructors and intermittent teachers, like Val, me, and the guest experts), but Jason and Donna are clearly excelling as they implement and improve the Beam Reach curriculum.

It was a real treat for me to meet Beam Reach class 061 in person. I met Peggy and Rena on the ferry as they returned from a respite in Seattle. Erin, Emily, Colleen, and Juliette introduced themselves as class started on Tuesday morning. I was immediately impressed with their amiable personalities and the progress they had made (in just 2 weeks!) on drafting their research proposals. They had already figured out how to shop, cook, and clean together, and I could sense that as a group they had the potential to survive the intensity of going to sea together for an extended period. In fact, after just a day or two, I was confident that I wanted to go to sea with them — and that’s a critical measure of the effectiveness of our admissions process! Our challenge as a school is to admit students who will be challenged enough to grow, but not so challenged that they compromise unduly the experience of their peers or instructors. There’s a lot of sea time and stress ahead, but my first impressions suggest this group will flourish together.

So, I will go to sea again, but I realize now that I’m lured for many reasons. Haro Strait surprised me during my visit by tantalizing me anew with mystery and beauty. Strange sounds surged from the hydrophones and kept me peering from the bluff, rocking Cora for hours. (I’m now in agreement with Val that the “heavy breather” is the local harbor seal.) Wild currents pulled my imagination into the realm of vortices, temperature profiles, and estuarine flow theory. The resident orcas were strangely elusive, making me wonder if they were reacting to the unusually high fraction of the Fraser fall-run Sockeye that is reportedly returning via the northern end of Vancouver Island. As the full moon set over Haro Strait and I sang my son back to sleep, I realized that my own curiosities about the ocean have been left unsated too long. I’m enthusiastic about this class and I’m clearly still lured by the sea itself.

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